For decades now, medication along with talk therapy have been the go-to for treating mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, PTSD and more. Psycho-pharmaceuticals such as anti-depression medications and anti-anxiety medications take weeks - sometimes months to start making a difference for people. Often times the side effects necessitate adjustments in dosages before arriving at a suitable outcome. But, with our human brains being electro- chemical organs, are chemical treatments (medications) the only way or even the most effective way to help?

Through recent studies on brain function and greater comprehension in neuroscience, it’s been shown that neurons in the brain that fire together, actually wire together. All of our life experiences are recorded in our brains, but, the negative experiences are remembered indefinitely. Likely to keep us from further harm or trauma in the future, they are actually encoded in great detail in our memories.

These detailed, encoded memories are pulled up during our most vulnerable moments and can interfere with our ability to function day to day. Messages from our pasts such as ‘you’re not good enough’, ‘you’re stupid’, ‘you’re fat’, ‘you’re worthless’, or ‘nobody loves you’ leave a lasting impact that can affect not only our present, but also our future.

The ability to engage with the brain’s neurons that have encoded negative experiences and to de-link the emotional charge associated with the experience has been made possible utilizing Havening Techniques ®, which is a psycho-sensory technique. Sensory input creates an electrical wave in the brain which changes the circuitry of the brain altering the way the brain accesses and utilizes negative memories and traumatic events.

As a therapist, the opportunity to witness the lift that happens and the different perception of self that occurs as a result of Havening Techniques is a wonder and a privilege to behold.

Havening Techniques can help with a wide variety of issues from phobias, grief, cravings, panic attacks, distressing memories, PTSD, anger or fear of abandonment to name a few.

This past June, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Richard Oakley, a UK Police Officer diagnosed with PTSD after being first on scene of a deadly terrorist attack in London and he told me the tremendous difference Havening has made in his own life.

The Havening Techniques offers a unique opportunity to work with neural networks that have formed across a lifetime, solidifying the sense of personal identity that is driving the symptoms and maladaptive behaviours. We can now heal those neural networks that developed by being directly impacted by the trauma filter and creating new opportunities for positive new self- concepts.

— Dr. Kate Truitt

Neuroscience is providing new and better ways to find healing from mental health issues. Healing doesn’t always come in the form of a pill. A new paradigm has arrived.